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Salem Speedway Busy with Testing for April 14 Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA 200

www.arcaracing.com April 1, 2019

Salem Speedway fueled by the Hoosier Lottery has been busy with ARCA Menards Series teams testing in preparation for the upcoming Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA 200 on April 14. Last week, the Venturini Motorsports teams and drivers Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota) and Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) took to Salem’s 33-degree banks, along with Chad Bryant Racing’s Joe Graf, Jr. (No. 77 Eat Sleep Race Ford) and Corey Heim (No. 22 Speedway Children’s Charities Ford), Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs (No. 18 Monster Energy/ORCA Coolers/Terrible Herbst/Advance Auto Parts Toyota), and Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation/Southern States Bank Chevrolet).

Smith won the fall race at Salem by leading 199 of the race’s 200 laps. With the fast way around right up next to the wall around Salem’s daunting turns three and four, it’s no surprise to see he scuffed the outside wall and wore the decals off the right side of his car.

Eckes is the defending winner of the spring race at Salem and based on his performance in the one-day test he’s confident in a chance to repeat.

“The test went pretty well,” Eckes said. “I felt like it was one of the best cars I’ve ever had at Salem today. Really excited to come back and try for a W with my JBL Camry.”

Self made his first appearance at Salem last fall and he qualified third and was running up front before a series of controversial run-ins with Zane Smith left them both in the infield with damaged racecars and heated tempers. Self won on a short track for the first time in his ARCA Menards Series career at Five Flags Speedway in the series’ last race on March 9 and would like to finish the good run that he started at Salem last fall.

“I thought we had a pretty solid day overall” Self said. “The no. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota has really good speed right off the trailer, so we kind of got to spend the day fine-tuning and experiment with different set-ups. I got a lot of time to work on my technique which was really helpful, and areas that I thought we really picked up and made gains with, so I’ll think on that and try to apply it when we get back for the race weekend.”

Graf, Jr. has had two frustrating races to start off his 2019 ARCA Menards Series season, but a short track win last season at Berlin and a productive test at Salem – and guidance from former NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series champion Mike Bliss – gives him hope he can improve on a pair of eleventh-place finishes last season at Salem.

“I feel like we made some pretty good strides from start to finish” Graf said. “We were very consistent and we spent a lot of time working on the handling of our race car but overall I felt the test was pretty productive and I’m encouraged to come back to the track next weekend.”

Practice for the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA 200 is set for 11 am ET on Saturday, April 13 with General Tire Pole Qualifying scheduled for 3 pm ET that afternoon. The green flag on round three of the 2019 ARCA Menards Series season will drop shortly after 2 pm ET on Sunday, April 14. The race will be televised live on MAVTV and ARCA for Me members can access live timing & scoring, live chat, and live track updates at ARCARacing.com. New members can register for free at ARCARacing.com/login.